Choices
by TomatoLove
Summary: -ONESHOT- Honestly, Envy isn't suited for looking after a bookstore in summer. Nor is he for giving a proper advice to a person concerned with her future. A tad Envy/Winry if you look closely. AU


My first FMA one-shot and it's based on my favorite crack pairing, Envy and Winry! Don't you just feel the spark between them? Lol

Anyways, I started this one-shot during my three-hour vacant two days ago and finished it roughly sometime before midnight yesterday, because I couldn't sleep. A very long brownout occurred because of typhoon _Basyang _in my country so yeah. Thank God for laptops. I know you guys don't care about that but I can't help buy share it haha.

About this oneshot… I wanted to make this as a default chapter for a possible chapter story. In there, of course, more EnvyWinry love (and probably a bit of one-sided EdWin)! haha If a lot like it and I could write out a skeleton for the story, then I might make it. Although I must finish my other story first.

There really isn't that much action between them. It's more like implied or something. I dunno. But the only characters who are _in_ the story are just, well, Envy and yeah.

I hope you guys enjoy this one-shot!

-xxx-

_Choices_

The ringing of annoying wind chimes signaled the entrance of a new costumer. Strawberry blonde hair swirled wildly by the rapid wind coming in from the hot streets of downtown Central.

Bored violet eyes shifted by the sudden disruptions of his tranquil daydreaming. Chains hanging from his black jeans clinked as he sat upright from his slouching position and smoothed out his matching black tank top.

A lot people come in this time of day – where the sun is directly in the middle of the sky – just for the air conditioner. Three-thirds of the customer didn't even bother to buy a single thing. Mainly because of "window shopping" or the cranky Goth storekeeper.

It was also Envy's favorite time to doze off. Nobody would dare try to steal from his "family's" bookstore anyway. Due to boredom, he fixated his eyes to his new costumer.

Booted footsteps made soft sounds against the carpeted wooden floors as the blonde – dressed in a short pleated skirt and a cream-colored sleeveless top, perfect for summer – strode past him after giving him a polite smile he didn't return and went straight to the magazine stands and young adult novels section. She scanned titles and covers but walked away shortly after not finding what she was looking for.

It seemed it was her first time in coming to the bookstore. Envy had never seen this girl before. He didn't memorize the faces of the customers who frequented nor he had a photographic memory. He was just that keen and observant when it comes to a lot of random things. And the fact that the girl walked and walked until she reached the opposite end of the store was enough proof that she had never been to Envy's family's bookstore.

Envy craned his head to look at his costumer's reaction. Good thing the cashier's corner was a bit elevated and his chair was high enough to see past the shelves.

When the girl stepped out between shelves, Envy couldn't help but chuckle against his fist upon seeing her flushed face.

She just found Greed's personal corner. Take note: it was _Greed's _corner. Which meant all sorts of hardcore porn for an average man doesn't fit his definition of _hardcore porn_. Envy couldn't even fathom how and why Father allowed Greed to have his own section filled with such materials.

Envy snapped out of his thoughts and chuckled again. The girl just realized the wooden section labels that hung on the ceiling, flashed in dull light when she slumped her head back in exasperation. She face-palmed at her own neglect and carelessness. Why didn't she just ask for directions anyway?

She followed the label to her destination: the reference and non-fiction section which was located near the cashier's corner where she should have looked in earlier. She stopped in front of the college entrance exams reviewers and peered through the titles quickly in deep concentration. After a few steps across the floor, she halted and traced an index finger down the spine.

Being Envy, he knew what book she had her interest in. Heck, he knew every single thing in that small bookstore; even the books still stacked in the storeroom. He practically lived in that store, wasting his summer days looking after books, blasting heavy metal and post-hardcore music using the store's sound system or reading a random mystery novel his pale hands could take.

When his only customer took the book in her arms, she stepped in front of a different college reviewer. Azure eyes scanned the cover of the book. Because she had her back to Envy, he didn't know what her face held when she placed her gaze on the book.

"Can I help you?"

The girl jumped by the sudden cold voice behind her or the fact that the ghostly-pale, all in black with unimaginable long spiky dark hair for a cashier guy – he _was_ a guy, right? – just materialized from point A to point D.

Envy was surprised too himself. He hadn't realized that he followed the blonde woman out of curiosity until his own voice betrayed him and crashed him into reality.

Turning around, she revealed two books of contrasting university entrance exams reviewers: for a science-oriented university, while the other was for an engineering one. After recovering from a subtle shock, Winry flashed her smile to the long-haired salesman.

"Uhm, I'm still unsure which course to take for college," She said, hesitation in her voice whether to ask a stranger for advice. The guy seemed _harmless_ – despite the way he dressed which literally screamed "rock and rebel" – but a stranger's opinion wouldn't hurt, right?

"My parents are doctors," she continued, "and my best friend will undoubtedly take inorganic chemistry in Dublith."

She spoke as if every word was rehearsed. Maybe even told verbatim to anyone she had conversed about the topic before. Still, a faint blush spread across Winry' face when she mention her best friend.

Envy was more curious about this girl but wasn't sure what to reply. Plus, it was his first time to have a small conversation with his customer without the nags and accusations of theft. Therefore, his only reply was a simple: "Oh?" and his signature hand-on-hip move.

"Yes, maybe I should take up surgery or something," Winry twirled the long strands of hair that framed her face. Her large clear eyes found the guy's purple ones travel to the other book she held. "However I wanted to become a mechanic, just like my grandma. She said I could go to Rush Valley but I have to fend for myself if I did." She said and waited for her companion to process the words she just said. The guy didn't seemed the carefree kind of person and perhaps the calculating type; his answer might be helpful for her.

Envy was also thinking whether to help the girl or not, give the answer she wanted or not or talk to her further or not. His conversing with a girl he didn't know was a question to him already. He had never conversed with a woman – given her an advice at most – excluding a certain female family member and closest to his definition of an acquaintance. But now, he wondered what to say or do.

"If you're asking for _my _advice, I'd say… take up medicine." He replied nonetheless. Blue eyes stared at him, expecting to hear more from his answer. Envy almost looked away from the intensity of the woman's gaze at him. It nerved him how her stare made him uncomfortable.

Then an idea hit him. Time to put his manipulation skills in active mode with matching sadistic smirk on his pale face.

"Isn't that what some girls always wanted?" He started, "Save the world from the common cold and all? And because of the current economic problem of Central, doing what you just wanted without taking any practical choices would only lead you to become the old single woman with a hundred and one cats."

"I thought they were dogs, Dalmatians to be exact?" Winry wanted to clarify but she got the point. "Maybe you're right," she responded instead.

"And a girl like _you_ wouldn't stand a chance in mechanics anyway. Nobody will take you seriously in the future."

As if on cue, Winry puffed her cheeks and placed a hand on her hip. Did she heard him correctly? One thing she hated most was the one called "gender discrimination".

"Are you implying that a girl is not tough enough to take 'manly' courses and will not be taken seriously because of mere gender?" If the person she was yelling at was a certain golden-eyed childhood friend, he should have been thrown across the room seconds earlier.

"You said it, not me."

"Well, Mr. Goth, I'll prove to you that _this_ girl can easily stick a wrench up that egotistical emo ass of yours!"

And there goes the magical words Envy wanted to hear. No, he wasn't a masochist that wanted a woman sticking gears and tools up his butt; it was actually the opposite.

The blonde just fell to his trap of manipulation. Exactly what Envy had always concluded: women were easier to control when strong emotions were aflame. Especially when the woman in target was hot-headed and had that feminist spirit.

To tell it truthfully, Envy wanted the woman to choose what she wanted. He didn't want the blond girl to take up something just because of other people influencing or telling her what to do. Just because Father told him to stop from making noisy music and dark literature to help out in their family's other _underground_ business didn't mean the girl must have the same fate as he had.

Then again, he just couldn't help but sneer in his success.

"Whatever you say, girl."

"I'm not 'girl'; My name's Winry."

"I'm not 'Mr. Goth' either."

"What is it then," Winry checked the man up and down with a raised eyebrow, "gothic palm tree?"

Envy didn't reply. He never liked telling random people his identity, lest his name. He just snatched the engineering university reviewer from Winry's arms and treaded straight to the cashier.

With wide blue eyes, Winry followed the black-clad teen in disbelief. She couldn't believe that guy! She would never go in this bookstore ever again. Unless there was an emergency. And that would be plausible.

Pale hands slid the book to the price scanner with the familiar _ting_ sound. The price automatically flashed on the small digital screen in neon green.

"Thrity-nine ninety-nine sens," Envy said with his famous smirk. "So blondie, will it be paper or plastic?"

"I have a name dammit!"

-xxx-

Review?


End file.
